Bob Edelblut
Every operation has a mission, a purpose. Always it requires untold hours of planning, coordinating and the meshing of all the moving parts. Operation Dragon had it all and believe me when I say there is nothing more rewarding, more exciting, more fulfilling than being part of a good plan that works!
The mission was quite simply to Slay the Dragon—the poa annua grass that has infected large areas of all the greens at our MountainView course. The plan was equally simple. Rally all the nations that call SaddleBrooke TWO their home to action: the Skylines, the Border Rocks, the Golf Courses, the Club Houses and all the Sandlewoods. The coordinating was a bit more challenging. All the armies of all the nations had to take a lead role in the mission: the MPMGA, the MPWGA, The Lady Niners and The Men’s Niners. They did. The meshing in the end was the easy part, as Director of Golf Matt Hudson and MountainView Course Superintendent Tom Cunningham jumped on board enthusiastically. I think they said, “This is a great plan! How can we help?”
Now for the good part. Maybe hundreds, maybe thousands convened at 14:30 hours on January 12, 2018 on MountainView’s chipping green for last minute instructions. Everybody listened intently to Tom’s instructions on how to best remove the poa. It’s not easy, by the way. The 15:00 hour was fast approaching now, so all the troops were quickly divided into four groups, given their starting location and told to start their engines. Chaos ensued. Golf cars loaded with soldiers, buckets, trash bags, knee pads and sharp weapons of all descriptions started moving at the same time in the same direction. Quite a sight! It looked like a swarm of mini tanks racing across the desert. For the next two hours plus, the only sound heard on our course was laughter. Yes, the troops were having fun crawling on their hands and knees, bending up and down, scraping hands and elbows just to pull those ugly weeds out of our greens. Another amazing sight.
When does phase two begin?
Everyone, regardless of the role played, who participated in our first Operation Dragon needs to know just how much their efforts are appreciated. Super great! Matt, we are all waiting eagerly to learn what you have in store for us next.